Unable To Get to Desktop Login Screen.

[Nittany_Tiger]

Hi.

After a bad restart (shutting power off without shutting the operating system down first) weeks ago, I have been unable to get to my login screen. I get as far as the Ubuntu symbol showing up followed by a black screen. I can still login to a command prompt through recovery mode, though.

I first tried a package repair, but that failed. I then tried to start the desktop through the command prompt. I don't remember the command to start the deskop instance(not sure if it is still Xfree86 or not). I told some people in a chatroom my problem and I asked what to do, and I was told to type in service gdm restart in the command window. I did that, and I get this error message:

restart:Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.19" (uid=1000 pid=1525 comm=restart) interface="com.ubuntu.Upstart0.6.Job" member="Restart" error_name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination="com.ubuntu.Upstart" (uid=0 pid=1 comm="/sbin/init")

To be honest, I'm not sure what the command is.

Did something become corrupted during the bad restart? Is there a way I can get to the desktop through the recovery mode?

I'm running Ubuntu 9 x86 (Linux 2.6.31-22 generic according to GRUB) on an AMD Athlon 64 processor with an ATI Radeon 9600 board. I think I have 1 or 2GB of RAM in it. I'm not sure of the other specs.

Also, I'm somewhat literate in UNIX/Linux.

Thanks.

[Segfault]

You should start with fsck, boot some liveCD and run it on unmounted filesystems.

[Nittany_Tiger]

You mean file system check from a CD boot?

I did try something like that (selected Check Disks for Defects on the CD boot) and it came up clean. Did a memtest to boot and it came up clean.

I also tried booting the OS from the CD. Same problem as before. Input from computer stops and screen goes black.

Oh, and I was wrong about my OS. It's a 32bit OS.

Thanks for your quick response.

[devils casper]

Did you execute fsck command on each partition? Boot up from LiveCD and execute sudo blkid command. Post output here.

[Nittany_Tiger]

I don't know how to get to terminal from Live CD.

For some miraculous reason, I was able to get to my desktop through a CD boot. I'll still run the command and give you the result.

EDIT: This is what I got when I ran the command.

/dev/sda1: UUID="769b0673-d397-4185-9eda-208af6fc3acd" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: UUID="1faecf55-ef9b-42f5-bed9-6ce98c79bf1f" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="225461205460F7C5" LABEL="Local Disk" TYPE="ntfs"

EDIT 2:

You should start with fsck, boot some liveCD and run it on unmounted filesystems.

Were you referring to running fsck from a CD boot in the desktop or from the CD prompt? I didn't know, so that's why I haven't run a fsck at all since I get warnings for mounted file systems and I have no idea what's mounted and what's not.

[devils casper]

Boot up from LiveCD and run fsck on /dev/sda1 partition.

For Terminal, press Alt+F2 and type gnome-terminal in command box.

[Nittany_Tiger]

Tried pressing Alt+F2 on the CD boot menu, but nothing happens.

Sorry for the late reply, but I've been very busy.

[devils casper]

Search for Terminal in Applications - Accessories Menu.

[Nittany_Tiger]

Oh, you want me to do it on desktop on a CD boot (boot to desktop from CD?). I thought you were talking about doing an fsck while on the menu that comes up when you insert the CD and then restart the PC.

Ran the check. Automatically said clean.

[Segfault]

Can you start GUI with startx command?